LulzSec Hackers Finally Explain Themselves

The mischievous hacking group LulzSec has posted an unusually serious statement to mark their 1,000th tweet, and for the first time it explains in some detail why they've gone on a month-and-a-half long hacking spree claiming the likes of PBS, SonyPictures.com, and an FBI affiliate as victims.

In one way the statement seeks to justify the group's server breaches and data thefts as a warning to anyone who uses the Internet: that we are too complacent about the security of our data online.

This is what you should be fearful of, not us releasing things publicly, but the fact that someone hasn't released something publicly.

In other words, just because it hasn't been announced that someone has stolen our email passwords, that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. There are plenty of "blackhat" hackers out there pilfering data in the same way, but they don't announce it to the world, LulzSec says, or how easy the process was. After announcing its hack on SonyPictures.com, for instance, LulzSec pointed out that Sony had not encrypted user information and passwords, but stored them in plain text. Still, this argument is partly a matter of circumstance - the group could have been doing the same thing 15 years ago but not been able to make the same point about the susceptibility of our data.

LulzSec also admits that they carry out their attacks because doing so is fun and "lulz"-worthy. While this logic will resonate with anyone who regularly visits image boards like 4chan, a piece of Internet real estate where unidentified users often collaborate on pranks, many will still question this logic:

Most of you reading this love the idea of wrecking someone else's online experience anonymously. It's appealing and unique, there are no two account hijackings that are the same, no two suddenly enraged girlfriends with the same expression when you admit to killing prostitutes from her boyfriend's recently stolen MSN account.

And right now, the group seems to have gone beyond caring about the consequences:

We've been entertaining you 1000 times with 140 characters or less, and we'll continue creating things that are exciting and new until we're brought to justice, which we might well be. But you know, we just don't give a living f*** at this point.

Ultimately, LulzSec with their quickly-amassed 187,000 Twitter followers, are aware that they're only enjoying a brief moment of fame.

You'll forget about us in 3 months' time when there's a new scandal to gawk at, or a new shiny thing to click on via your 2D light-filled rectangle.